Striving to Become the Greatest

The significant finding in a recent US Census report (Income, poverty, and health insurance
coverage in the United States: 2010) isn't that the poverty rate is highest
since 1993. Rather it is that the
poverty rate had been steadily declining between 1993 (15.1%) and 2000 (11.3%)
and steadily increasing to its present 15.1% since 2000. What caused a worsening upward trend to
emerge from what had been an improving outlook? What policies affected the difference
between these two periods?

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As quoted in a Huffington Post
article , historian Alice O'Connor (University of California, Santa Barbara, and
author of Poverty Knowledge: Social
Science, Social Policy and the Poor in Twentieth Century U.S. History) said
"a growing number of Americans have come to understand that the availability of
living-wage jobs plays a large role in determining a family's economic state." O'Connor points to "the role social
policies -- such as those that make collective bargaining difficult, or tax
income from work and investments differently -- contribute to increased
poverty."

As reported, O'Connor claimed the combination of a cut in social safety
net measures and many workers earning less than they did three decades ago, coupled
to a diminished access to health insurance and other benefits, adversely
impacts the rate of poverty.
Accordingly, O'Connor stated, "what we are looking at today is
really the result of decades of eroded protections for workers and just a
declining number of good jobs." Scarcity
of jobs gives the upper hand to those offering jobs and so in our egoistic
economic system those in authority might even create scarcity for greater personal
gain and profit.

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Management's New
Idea

The two-tier
wage structure of the Chrysler Corporation (as well as in GM and Ford) wherein
labor for their U. S. manufacturing is hired at the rate of $14/hour. Some might say this creates more jobs,
but if the jobs weren't there already a low hourly rate wouldn't create them. That is to say, it doesn't create jobs
it just makes it far more profitable for corporations who have the work to hire
people to perform that work. It
appears that it is an issue of where corporations make more with the cash they
have on hand, in the financial markets or in the labor market. The guiding premise
is if a corporation can get people to
work for nothing it could make a lot of money.

Everyone knows--especially graduates of business
school--that the business of business is profit! You see, following the precepts of egoistic economics,
corporations aren't committed to making products and services, they are
committed to making profit--products/services are mere costs to the business of
making profit.

So what material
self-interest maximizing CEO wouldn't hire people at a low wage to fill a
work need! It is not to hard to
imagine that we could have corporations bringing back (to the U.S.) previously
exported jobs as wages are lowered. As more corporations follow suit we have the prospect of
becoming the greatest technologically advanced third-world wage provider. Unfortunately for these manufacturers--who
are ignorant of the lesson from Henry Ford--those they employ won't be among the
pool of customers who will be able to purchase the products they are producing.

Given the current economic recession, with millions
of people out of work for years and meager future prospects people are happy to
have any job that pays--even a $14/hour job (at least for a while). When there are no
jobs, then even not-so-good jobs start to look better. So initially a low-wage
structure will be accepted because $14 is more than $0.

But this is subjugation of the working class--just as
was the case during the Roman Empire--and is tantamount to an enlightened
self-interest form of slavery, a slightly more humane form but it is domination
nonetheless.

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Moreover, as more people realize that $14/hour (which
is approximately $29,000 annually) is not a living wage for a family, the sense
that our society is a two-tier society, thehaves versus the have-not, will
spread. It will be a society
divided, one in which labor serves the capitalist. This wage level is just barely above the poverty line for a
family of four, thus ensuring the vast majority of people will be among the
working poor.

If more manufacturers follow suit, coupled to government
officials advancing austerity, the elimination of minimum wage and the
evisceration of unions, then the poverty rate is likely to continue its climb
upward. Correspondingly, the push to privatize
government services will make the wealthy wealthier and hasten the decline of a
society of, for and by the people. As this unfolds we will likely need far stronger social
safety net programs not weaker ones. Could this be the beginning of the fall?

Sure this level of wage makes more jobs available and
benefits the organization's bottom line, but it does little for advancing the
prosperity America. It is about
time we revolutionize
our system of economics.

My educational background includes a Ph.D. in Organizational Studies, an M.A in Statistics and a B.S. in Mathematics/Education. My experience in business and industry is as extensive as it is diverse, having held positions across the full range of (more...)